Tooi Omoide: Distant Memories
by SharonToggle
Summary: Sorata, home alone one evening, is called upon by an old woman to deliver something to Kamui. What is this feeling that he knows her? NOT ORIGINAL CHARACTER! Not really
1. Encounter

Disclaimer: I do not own X, or any of the characters associated with it.  They are all owned by CLAMP.  I worship the ground they walk on, and could never hope to even come close to their wonderfulness.  I love you, CLAMP!

A/N:  Very short fanfic, started when I was supposed to be doing work in math class and finished on my computer at home when I was supposed to be in bed ^^;;  This is IN NO WAY INTENDED TO BE A MARY-SUE OR EVEN AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER FIC.  Not really.  I personally can't stand Mary-Sues, and not most original character fics (as long s the story centers on an established character, I'm okay).  This is a Sorata fanfic!  Arashi might come in later, if I decide to continue it.  This story is supposed to take place between mangas 13 and 14 (I can't remember where that is in the TV series.  After Subaru looses his eye, but before Seishirou dies.)  Oh, yeah, and I'll talk about why I wrote this down at the bottom, where it won't ruin anything.  Yes, I know the title sucks.  If anyone can come up with a better one, I'd be much obliged!  Oh, yes, I'm going to be footnoting a good bit of the Japanese I use in this story, so you can skip that if you so choose.  Please review!

_Tooi__ Omoide_

_Distant Memory_

            Sorata glanced up from the stew he was making for dinner at the sound of a doorbell.  He wiped his hands hastily on his apron, and headed for the door.  He was only cooking for two, anyway, and he knew it.  Kamui was still in the hospital from his latest encounter with his Chi no Ryuu(1) opposite (the boy had nearly died!  Sorata himself had carried an unconscious Kamui in his arms to the hospital only five days before.)  and Yuzuriha—she was still missing.  It would be a solemn night tonight, just himself and the 'Neechan.  She was, in fact, out looking for the dog mistress at that very moment, leaving Sorata to make dinner.  Not that he minded, really.  Truth be told, he was the best cook of the mismatched quartet that lived together on the CLAMP campus.

            He set the pot to simmer while he was gone, and ran to answer the door.  Just inside the doorframe, Sorata summoned at cheerful smile, and pulled the door open.

            "Kon'nichi wa!"

            An older woman was looking up at him through thick eyeglasses.  She came up to about his chest, even with the high-heeled shoes she was wearing.  She smiled back at him, crow's feet forming at the corners of her eyes.  Her salt-and-pepper hair was a bit messy, but the casual dress she wore was immaculate.  In her right hand was a beige bag that was positively bulging with books and papers.  "Konichi wa," she replied, her voice a surprisingly strong alto.  "Is this Shirou Kamui-kun's house?"

            Something tickled the back of Sorata's mind, some half-forgotten memory tried to surface.  He attempted to place it, but it was like trying to catch smoke with his hands.  "Kamui?  Yes, he lives here.  He's in the hospital right now, though.  Is there a message I could give him, for you?"

            "Yes, actually, there is," she said distractedly, digging in her bag with one hand until she fished out a book that had a few papers stuffed in it.  "I'm Shirou-kun's English teacher(2), and I noticed that he had been missing a lot of class, so I made up a study guide for him."  Sorata took the proffered textbook, noting with his very limited English skills that it said something along the lines of "Welcome!" (3)

"There are worksheets and notes in there for him to study," she continued.  "So he'll be all caught up when he returns to class.  Could you give it to him, for me?"

"Of course!" He smiled.  He didn't think he had stopped smiling since he'd opened the door.  "I'll run it down to him this evening.  He's recovering well."

"That's good to hear.  Thank you again, ah…"

"Sorata," he supplied helpfully.

Something flickered through her spectacled brown eyes, but was gone before he could identify it.  "Sorata.  That's a very nice name.  I knew someone named Sorata once."  She smiled again, though this time it seemed a bit more forced.  "Well, thank you, Sorata-kun.  And make sure Shirou-kun takes care of his health before he takes care of his schoolwork."

            He smiled one of his most winning smiles, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his head.  "Right, I will."  The woman smiled again, and headed down the walk leading to the small townhouse.  Sorata glanced down at the book a moment, before something occurred to him.

            "Sensei!" he called, Osaka accent(4) thick on his tongue.  "Sensei, who should I tell him this came from?"

            She had turned at his call, and she smiled again at the question.  "I'm Arisugawa Naoko.  Tell him Arisugawa-sensei said to get well soon!"

            And Sorata found himself gaping at her until she had walked out of sight.

Random Footnotes:

(1) Chi no Ryuu – lit. "Dragon of Earth" or "Earth's Dragon"

(2) English teacher – Many Japanese schools have an English class as standard curriculum for the students.  And Naoko didn't seem like a math or science teacher, anyway.

(3) "Welcome!" textbook – Maw-haw-haw, I couldn't resist.  Our Japanese textbook is called "Youkoso!", which means "Welcome!", and we've been saying all year that it's a stupid name for a foreign language textbook.

(4) Sorata speaks Japanese with an accent ('cuz he was raised on Mt. Kouya, which is in Osaka).  He always sounds a little slurred.

A/N:  Okay, now that it probably won't ruin anything, I'll say why I wrote this fanfic ^^;;  That one scene in the manga, where Sorata's talking about leaving his parents to go with the Kouya monks always seemed to scream "Fanfic!" to me.  I was debating how to get Sorata to bump into Naoko for quite a while, though.  At first she was going to be a random woman on the street, and then she was a nurse in the hospital where Kamui was recovering, and probably a dozen other things until I finally settled on this. I hope you liked it!  Please review!


	2. Contemplation

Disclaimer: As always, I do not own X or any of its characters.  They are owned by CLAMP, who (whom?) I worship.

A/N:  Hello!  And thanks to all those who reviewed!  So sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out -_-  I've succeeded in my summer goal of relaxing to the point where I can't think straight anymore and have absolutely no grasp of time ^^;;;;  And sorry if this rambles a bit, it was written at about four in the morning.  Yeah.  There's a bit of background stuck in there, too, for those of you who haven't read the manga ^^

Tooi Omoide

Distant Memories

It took Sorata a long time, a _very_ long time, to make his brain function enough to step back and close the door.  It took slightly longer for him to stagger back into the kitchen.  And by that time, his soup was boiling over.

            "Gwack!"  he shouted, as his cook's instincts propelled him across the kitchen to salvage the remains of what had promised to be a very nice soup.  He quickly turned off the burner and moved the pan to a cool burner, clutching the handle tightly with a dishrag he'd grabbed off the counter.  Panting slightly, he stirred the soup convulsively.  It was a bit thicker than he'd wanted, but it would probably still do… He tasted it carefully, made a face, and reached for the salt.

            Once he was assured that his soup was safe, Sorata began baking the onigiri(1) he knew Arashi liked.  He began feverishly basting them, and carefully set them in the oven once he'd finished, using the same dishrag from earlier to shield his fingers from the preheated oven.  Frantically, he looked around for something else to cook.

            Just as it occurred to him that he was trying not to think about what had just happened.

            He sighed, and slumped down in one of the chairs at the table.  Could she really be--- who he thought she was?  Or was that just wishful thinking?  And if she was—did he dare approach her?  Did he dare ask?

            He closed his eyes, trying to remember as much as he could of his life before Kouya.  It was all—foggy.  Disjointed.  There were—hands.  One pair thin and delicate, one pair large, thick-fingered, calloused.  Both gentle.  He recalled the hands—ruffling his hair, putting a bandage on a scraped knee, wrapping around him in a fierce hug—

            Words.  There were words.  He ground the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to concentrate.  What were the words?  But it was if he were hearing the voices though miles of fog—he knew they were talking, but he couldn't make out any of their words.  New hands then, old, wrinkled hands that dwarfed his own when they took him.  Took him, lead him away from the two warm bodies he'd known.  He looked over his shoulder, and all he could see were tears.  Tears streaming down the woman's face.  Because he was leaving?  No.  She shouldn't be sad.  She wasn't supposed to be sad.  She—

            The door opened and closed, snapping Sorata out of the long-buried memories.  That must be—

            "Tadaima,"(2) the female voice called out from the parlor.  He heard her setting her bag down on the couch.

            "Okaeri!"(3)  He cried, trying his best to pretend that he had _not _just been buried in deep thought.  "Any luck?"

            Arashi sighed, making her way into the kitchen.  "Nothing.  I've been asking around, but no one I've talked to has seen her.  I was thinking about putting an ad in the newspaper, but people would wonder why we haven't gone to the police…" she stopped abruptly, looking at him.  "Are you alright?"

He gave a start, smiling nervously.  "Why wouldn't I be?"

She frowned at him.  "Your eyes are all red.  Have you been rubbing them?"

"What?  Oh!  No, no, I haven't…" he said quickly, trying to come up with an appropriate excuse.  "I was—I was slicing up some onions for dinner, and I think some of it got in my eyes… you know how it sorta burns?"  He recalled with a bit of amusement how her eyes had watered and turned red after she'd helped himself and Yuzuriha prepare dinner for a depressed Kamui, getting him to eat for the first time in days.  "I'll be fine.  Is 'Neechan worried about me?"  He asked with a hopeful tone and a genki smile.  She rolled her eyes and went to pour herself a glass of water.

"Did anything happen while I was out?"

Sorata nearly choked.  "Aah—aah—nothing in particular.  One of Kamui's teachers came by to drop off a textbook, but that's about it.  She left just before you came home."  He wondered if sounded casual.

_Ah-hah,_ Arashi thought.  _That's what it is._

"Was she pretty?"  The question came out with absolutely no tone.  She was rather proud of herself for that.

Sorata grinned at her back.  "Is 'Neechan jealous?"

Arashi threw him a Look that fully warranted the capital letter, and he subsided.

"No," he said in a more serious voice after a slight pause.  He got up to check his baking onigiri, not looking at Arashi.  "No, she was an older lady.  His English teacher."

She got out some plates and soup bowls for the two of them.  "I wonder if Subaru-san can help him with that.  I don't think he knows English too well."

"How is Subaru-san, by the way?"

"Still at the hospital.  I checked up on him and Kamui-san around lunchtime.  Honestly, I think if I hadn't brought him a bentou he wouldn't have eaten anything."

"So he's still there?  At the hospital?"  He was glad of this conversation, it meant he didn't have to think about Arisugawa Naoko.

"Yes.  He refuses to leave Kamui-san's side.  Something about returning a favor."

"And how's Kamui?  He's been out for almost three days, now."

"Still unconscious.  The doctors say it's just a matter of time before he wakes up.  It'll be longer before he can walk again, though.  He probably shouldn't go back to school again for a while, either."

He smiled slightly, picking up his pot of soup with potholders and setting it on the table while Arashi laid out the silverware.  "Is that what the doctors told you, or is that what you think he should do?"

He had the gratification of seeing Arashi blush, but he thought that he might have missed it if he hadn't been looking for it.  "That's what I think he should do," she answered stiffly, folding a napkin and deliberately not looking at him.  "But I think the doctors would agree with me."

He went to take the onigiri out of the oven, arranging them neatly on a plate and brought them over to the table.  Arashi was already seated at he set the plate beside his pot of soup.  He took the seat across from her, and clapped his hands together solemnly.  She did the same.

"I-ta-da-ki-masssssu!"(4) He sang out, and promptly began wolfing down the meal he had prepared.  Arashi ate more daintily, but still managed to consume he share of the soup and more than half of the dozen or so onigiri Sorata had made.  They ate mostly in silence.

"Gochisoosama deshita," she said delicately after she had finished, wiping her mouth with a napkin.  "That was very good."

Sorata beamed.  "Glad you liked it!"  He was clearing away some of the dishes when the question came.

"So what about Kamui-san's English teacher bothered you so much?"

Footnotes:

(1) Onigiri – meheh, anyone who's seen Fruits Basket knows this one.  Onigiri is a Japanese rice ball (well, sort of triangle).  And yeah, I know you don't have to bake them, but I found this really tasty recipe for onigiri where you baste them and bake them….. *drool*

(2) Tadaima – "I'm home" or "I'm back"

(3) Okaeri – "Welcome home" or "Welcome back"

(4) Itadakimasu – erg…. A bit hard to translate.  Something you say before you eat.  It's generally subtitled as "Let's eat" (but in Slayers they said "Down the hatch!" o.o;; )

A/N:  "Gwack" is such a cool sound effect ^^;;;  And yay for Arashi!  I hope I got her in character, I've never written pre-in-love-with-Sorata Arashi.  Umm, yeah.  Hope this chapter didn't ramble too much.  I wrote this whole chapter to a playlist of "Sora E", "Key of the Twilight" and "Kiseki no Umi".  Great songs.  Go buy (read: download) them.  Yay for Japanese Celtic music!  (woo, I need sleep….)

Please review!  'Twill make this small author very happy! ^^  And thanks for reading!


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